Weretiger
by Jhomeboy
Summary: Final chapter up. Last chapter slightly AU. (I wrote this early, and yet it didn't save, so those who read and wondered...)
1. First Murder

Disclaimer: I do not own C&H. I still don't have my comp back, so I'm doing this in Keyboarding for the next week or so, until Halloween. Hope you realize this really sucks because my teacher keeps patrolling the area, and she must know something is on.oops.  
  
The "FLASH" scene is not meant to be a spoof on "Spider-man," if you remember that part of the movie.  
  
* ** *  
  
All Alicia could think as she ambled down the street was I am going to kill Tomas.  
  
The chilling September air swirled across her back, and she gasped slightly as her nipples hardened, and then kept on. Above her, the pregnant moon beamed on her, at least lighting her way.  
  
It had been a dispute. Alicia hadn't wanted to, said she really shouldn't have, but still Tomas had persisted. He had began to feel up her leg, and after she had slapped him, and as the color ran to his cheek, she realized that she had done something wrong.  
  
"Out! Get out, bitch!" he had shouted to her. She screamed and scratched as his face, but in the end he managed to open the door and push her out. Then he peeled away, leaving Alicia on the street alone.  
  
At least she had the street, and the moon had finally poked out of the clouds. The full moon lit her way as she began her way into the forest where the road cut into the thick oak and maple trunks.  
  
The hair on the nape of her neck shivered and stood on end as she suddenly heard the blood-curdling howl of the wolf. She shivered and walked on, arms tucked in, eyes darting apprehensively. She was convinced that she was not alone.  
  
She heard a snap off to the left, toward the gutter that led into the dark blanket of trees. "H-hello?" Of course, no response. Alicia wiped the sweat from her forehead and moved on.  
  
If only she had hit Tomas instead of scratched, it might be him out on the street, waiting for whatever Sasquatch of Chainsaw man to pop out. It was amazing, as a child, she had roamed these woods as a kid and had not a problem with it. Of course, the factors of puberty, and, of course, the lack of light had augmented her joy for the woods. Town was just a mile in, and there were houses on the edge of the woods. There was a suburb on the edge of the woods. She would be home soon.  
  
Another snap. Alicia whirled around and found nothing on the street behind her. She panted hard, and suddenly had the urge to laugh. She let it out, and crumpled into a fetal ball and laughed and laughed and laughed. When she finally got up, and realized she had nothing to laugh about, she started to walk again.  
  
This time, it was a series of snaps, like something in the woods was trotting or slowly running. Alicia began to creep toward the opposite side of the road when suddenly the hedge in the gutter seemed to explode. Alicia screamed and began to run, throwing only a jerked glance over her shoulder. The trees had cast a shadow over it, but she could here the heavy breathing and the saliva forming on elongate jaws.  
  
Before Alicia could really comprehend the gravity of the situation, before she realized that she wouldn't get out alive, before she realized the following Tomas would have saved her, the creature was upon her, gullet open.  
  
* ** *  
  
"Good morning, Hobbes!" came the voice from far away. Hobbes mentally yawned and the room suddenly swam into focus. "Nyup, nyup, nyup." He mouthed, getting an awful taste out of his mouth.  
  
"Oh, man, Hobbes, what did you eat last night?" grimaced Calvin as he caught wind of Hobbes. "I dunno.whatever you brought up." Calvin shrugged and pushed himself out of bed. Hobbes yawned and began his catlike stretch, cracking his spine all up and down.  
  
"Ooh, I'm so sore." he groaned as he followed Calvin downstairs for some cereal. "Ah, another great Saturday afternoon, just me and my best friend.speaking of which, I had the coolest dream last night. We were racing down the hill on the sled, except we lived on a mountain, and we were racing Yetis.yup. Then I had the worst dream. I was in a forest, and there were all these snaps and cracks of twigs around me. I would look, and there was nothing, until suddenly I was running, running, and I knew something was chasing me. I turn to look and I saw a great shape in the shadows, a werewolf or something, and when it was just about to come out and see who it was, I woke up. How about you?"  
  
Hobbes swayed a little bit, a slight migraine suddenly kicking in, almost like a hangover. "Last night--?"  
  
FLASH  
  
running running im chasing somebody ive got you now my little pretty ive got you now now ive got somebody else i see them in the street and they are scared but im going to get them here i come I Smell Blood!  
  
FLASH  
  
"I.can't remember." Calvin drained his cereal bowl. "C'mon, let's get ready."  
  
In the room, Calvin began to dress and Hobbes lay against the bed, the effects of his headache squeezing him. Where had he been last night? Why couldn't he remember last night, or any of his dreams? What was going on?  
  
Hobbes began to rub his head in frustration when Calvin finally said "Let's go watch some cartoons." Hobbes lifted himself up from the bed and, before he left, he saw something on the bed that made his heart skip a beat.  
  
On the white sheets, stained, was a tiny drop of blood. 


	2. A Light Is Shed

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Calvin and Hobbes…I'm sorry, I--I don't know what got into me. 

I meant to get this finished before Halloween, but Mrs. Dobrowlski was patrolling extra hard over the computers in Keyboarding. Meh.

* ** *

"What, no cartoons? Man…" Calvin's voice from downstairs suddenly snapped Hobbes back into reality. He was still standing in Calvin's room, while Calvin was downstairs, probably getting seconds on Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs now, and something in the natural order had disrupted this.

Hobbes, stumbling out of the room, righted himself and began to make his way downstairs where Calvin was grumbling. "Look, the cartoons aren't on ABC! It's just a news report. Where's 'Kim Possible?'"

"Are you okay?" He added, seeing the look on Hobbes' face.

"Y-yeah." But Calvin could see that was a lie, and Hobbes knew it. The blood, the horrible taste in his mouth, his loss of memory for the past eight hours, and the blurred vision…what do they mean? Hobbes ran his tongue over his teeth, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. Running over the canines, he suddenly felt something…anomalous about them. As if they had mutated in the night, somewhat more elongate…

"Ugh, how horrible." Hobbes looked over to Calvin, who was watching the news report. 

"…just moments ago, the police had picked up the body. We have with us now Mr. Mark Brown, who found the body earlier this morning." 

The screen shifted over to a rather dazed young man, no more than twenty four, whose hands were wringing nervously. "Mr. Brown, where exactly did you find the body?" He swallowed nervously, and leaned forward into the mike.

"Uh…well, I found her over in these woods, uh, where you see the police. I had just been driving down the road at about five when I thought I saw something red gleam. I pulled over and there she was, obviously dead." The reporter nodded and asked "And what state was the body in?"

He wrung his hands and leaned forward again, not really staring at the reporter but into the woods, expecting the murderer still hiding there. "Mutilated, absolutely. The, uh, the red gleam was coming from her high school ring on her finger…on her hand, connected to her arm…the arm wasn't connected to anything else. Then I found her torso, which was just messily sliced open down the stomach, and was missing lots of her organs. One of her legs was pulled off and cut up bad, and looked raw, like something had been chewing on it. Like the Fisherman in New York. You know that guy? He was the one that ate parts of his victims in the 20s, really messy." The reporter nodded.

"Thank, Mr. Brown. Alicia Chambers was found dead this morning at 5:03, murdered in the night. The hunt for the killer is still on--"

Hobbes ran his tongue over his teeth again and suddenly felt his fangs…the odd shape. Something deep inside suddenly clicked deep away.

Hobbes nearly stumbled over into the chair sideway. Calvin had gotten up to get some cereal and change the channel. Hobbes wouldn't have noticed anyway, but preferred he wasn't there as he suddenly admitted the truth.

"I…I killed that girl."


	3. Nighttime Disturbances

Thankee all for your support in the last two chapters. *Sniff sniff* Couldn'ta done it without y`all. Thank you… (breaks out in sobbing)

Disclaimer: I do not own Calvin and Hobbes.

I finally got my computer back! Yay! Shots on me!

* ** *

Hobbes rubbed his jaws together, feeling the great sensation of his new fangs click together, exciting him dearly. Oh yes. The moon beams sliced through the night, illuminating everything, including the sixteen year-old's scared expression. Hobbes grinned.

With the stealth of a ninja, he crept forward and out into the street, where she had been walking. The suburbs had been safe, she thought. The bushes couldn't possibly house a killer. She had been wrong. She screamed as Hobbes entered the pregnant moon's rays.

Hobbes had time to look at his change. He felt a pure ecstatic tingle run down his spine at his transformation. He was somewhat taller and leaner. His arms were much more muscular, and yet he seemed bonier than usual. His hair had grown everywhere into a thin shaggy coat that bounced with Hobbes. His stripes were nonexistent. The girl had noticed Hobbes too, as if she had known him and was startled by his presence. This sight stunned where she was. Her closed throat would utter but an eep! of surprise.

She knew that he was there again as soon as claw met throat and

* ** *

…Hobbes woke up with a start.

The first thing he noticed was that he was wetter than normal. His nightmare had produced enough sweat to collect on his fur to fill half a bucket. He took in a deep ragged breath and let it all out as he suddenly realized that it had indeed been a nightmare. He hadn't killed another soul, and for that matter, didn't kill the first one either. Just a maniac, that's all. 

Hobbes brought a hand across his forehead and settled back into his bed, where Calvin was already making Hobbes tired. He yawned and closed his eyes and drifted into sleep, but troubled sleep it was. 

What bothered him before he drifted asleep was the fat moon was already receding somewhat. 

In his sleep, he muttered one word. _Weretiger_.

* ** *

The next three weeks went without event. The worst, in Calvin's opinion, was when Ms. Wormwood had made him sit in the corner just because he had started a student revolution on the fact that kids aren't given medical leave like the teachers. That and Hobbes' constant outbreaks at night screaming and shaking. 

On Hobbes' part, the same was true except for his nightmares that seemed to occur clockwise. It seemed to be similar each time. He was hiding in the bushes in the suburbs and an upper-teenage girl would walk by, her boyfriend elsewhere. And then he would attack. 

However, about a week into the series of dreams, they would begin to grow clearer, and on the thirteenth night, as he would attack the young girl in the street, in the corner of his eye he would watch a tall figure leap from the shadows toward Hobbes, maybe in an attempt to stop him. Before the figure would fall under the pregnant moon's beams, he would awake, and after this clockwise pattern, he still needed ten minutes to persuade himself it was safe to fall asleep again.

Toward the last week or so he seemed restless, he noticed. His fangs were bothering him worse and worse, as whenever he talked his tongue would run over the abnormality of them. But that didn't bother as much as what he would notice at night.

The moon was getting fatter.


	4. Werewolf, sorry, wereTIGER

Disclaimer: I do not own Calvin and Hobbes.

This short story is almost finished.

"The moon kills, you know. It feeds off the earth. And when it shines down, fat and full, something in the night howls, the inhuman notes drifting on the wind, lonely, savage, lycanthropic. And with each full moon during the cycle of the werewolf, something, or someone, has to die."

~Cycle of the Werewolf~ Stephen King

* ** *

In the fourth week after the murder of Alicia Chambers that Hobbes finally snapped. 

Calvin and Hobbes were watching the news at the time, for some reason or another. They should have been outside, but Mom had insisted on it being too dark. Before Calvin could argue, he found himself on the couch, a scowl on his mom's face.

And now, on the news, Stacy Walsh and Carl Fisch chuckled their weatherman's laugh as Carl began his little synopsis of how weather this week was exactly like a woman deciding on clothes at the mall. "Mother Nature keeps picking up something you like and then puts it back." Although it was far from funny, Stacy still managed to chuckle.

"Also, you might want to keep you children in doors this Saturday. It's the full moon, and you might just find a little werewolf outside!" They began to laugh to each other when Calvin snapped off the TV. "These are the least funniest weather people I've ever heard. Drop dead, Stacy. 'Fuh fuh fuh, you might find a little werewolf outside! Fuh fuh fuh!' my God." If there was uneasiness in his voice, Calvin didn't show it. Calvin frowned in distrust and began to walk away, not noticing that Hobbes had managed to curl into a ball and had his puffed out tail in a death grip.

"What say we go read some Captain…Napalm…Hobbes, are you alright?" Hobbes turned his head slowly to meet Calvin's eyes. 

__

This has to come out now. 

But I can't tell Calvin I'm a werewolf/tiger. He wouldn't love me anymore.

Of course he would. He probably would help you too.

I'm not sure.

Of course you are.

Alright…

"N-no." he stumbled, released his tail and looked up into Calvin's eyes. "I got to tell you something."

* ** *

"A werewolf?" uttered Calvin as Hobbes started his story with the death of Alicia Chambers. There was a slight uneasiness in his voice, as if he had somewhat expected it.

"No, a were_tiger_." corrected Hobbes, despite how absurd he sounded. "A were tiger, ok, but…but why didn't you tell me earlier? The full moon is this weekend. If you had told me earlier, we could have figured something else out."

Hobbes directed his gaze to the floor. "You know how people react in a panic. Animals are permitted to do the same." "Ok, ok. So, what do we do now? I've never read of a way to reverse a werewolf, have you? We'll have to contain you somehow…the shed!"

Hobbes arched an eyebrow.

"The shed! We can put you in there the night of the full moon and lock the door, and do that every month for the rest of your life! That's perfect!" Hobbes sighed and evaluated his options. And he had none others. 

"Alright, we do the shed Saturday night." Calvin nodded and stood up from the couch. "I'll go get a lock." and with that he exited to the room.

Hobbes nodded silently. "Let's pray that this works."


	5. Bite the Bullet, it's Go Time

Disclaimer: I own but the idea, Alicia Chambers, and Nikki Jones (well, technically, I don't own Nicole. She is but the person I like, dare say, love). Second to last chapter.

* ** *

The moon kills, you know. It feeds off the earth. And when it shines down, fat and full, something in the night howls, the inhuman notes drifting on the wind, lonely, savage, lycanthropic. And with each full moon during the cycle of the werewolf, something, or someone, has to die.

Hobbes realized this all too soon as he watched the sun sink behind crimson clouds and out of this world for another night. And soon, over the horizon, the pregnant moon will follow the sun's daily course, and when it finds itself over the hovering heads of Calvin and Hobbes, something, or someone, will die.

"You, uh, you almost have the lock ready?" asked Hobbes, quickly, to Calvin as he emptied the last of unnecessary junk out of the shed. "Almost. Now, when you go in, and when you change, dare you need to, I put some milk and tuna in there." said Calvin with an air of cool sophistication, but underneath his voice Hobbes could hear the note of unease. He was trying to look past the fact his best friend was a hideous freak of nature. He could smell it like he could smell sweat and dirt underneath a man wearing too much cologne.

"I really don't know how it happened." remarked Hobbes as Calvin began to toy with the lock, making sure it would hold against the destructive force against a werewolf. 

"You have to get bitten by a werewolf to become one, I think. But I would have remembered. And I don't remember getting into any fight with a wolf. I would be cut up, as I would have kicked the crap out of him first. But I don't remember, not at all."

Calvin looked up from the lock and faced Hobbes. "Sometime these things happen. Sometimes radiation mutates something, sometimes things change on their own. Not that you're a mutant." he quickly added as he saw the look on Hobbes' face.

The sun was covered in its blanket of clouds now, and purple scarlet replaced the blue in the sky. The clouds, thank God, would at least give Hobbes a few extra hours before he was to change to his hideous abnormality. 

Within a half hour a complete blanket of darkness had enveloped o'er the land. Crickets sang their summer song, and the sound of children's laughter as they chased after fireflies rang in Hobbes' ear. _What if the shed isn't strong enough? What if I get out and can't control myself? What if I kill a kid that only wanted to catch some fireflies?_

"Okay, uh, let's do this thing."

* ** *

Nicole Jones began to stride up the street, throwing a casual glance over her shoulder. She was suspicious that somebody was following her, but not exactly sure who it was. She was convinced it was safe in the suburbs, nobody would harm a teenage girl in the suburbs. She had been over at Kayla's house with Angela, and they had both assured her that nobody would kill somebody in a suburb. However, Nicole had known Alicia Chambers, who had been killed last month, albeit she had been a senior and Nicole was but a freshman, but still they had been good friends. Alicia wasn't supposed to die. People like Alicia, the thoughtful and caring and those that suffer without complaining (horrible family, boyfriend that had treated her like crap), aren't supposed to die.

The children around her made her feel better as they ran around, searching for fireflies. She smiled lightly and pushed her brunette hair out of her eyes. Another look back, and still no Nightly Knife, the name that had circulated at the high school. Although many were convinced on calling it Manibal, the man cannibal. The wounds were more like teeth marks than knife wounds. Nicole chose not to think about it.

Nicole began to pick up her pace as above her the pregnant moon's cloud cover began to thin.


	6. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I only own Nicole. Sowwy.

This is the final installment of Weretiger. Enjoy. Stay tuned for my next great adventure. You'll love it as it goes above and beyond the conventional fan fiction series. Well, not really, but it does for this section, that I know of…

A word of the wise, this last chapter ends sort of on a Stephen King genre than a Calvin and Hobbes. It doesn't exactly fit, but I was caught up in the moment. 

* ** *

Hobbes ran his tongue over his fangs for the final time to grasp that it was indeed going to happen.

"Okay, let's do this thing. Time for the werewolf to get into his cage."

To Hobbes' surprise, Calvin stepped forward and into the empty shed. "Calvin, get out, I'm coming in." Calvin shook his head. "You don't need to. Now, make sure that the lock gets pushed in all the way. Sometimes it will pop out of it isn't depressed fully-"

"Wait, what do you mean I don't need to get in. I'm the werewo-" again, Calvin shook his head. "Sorry buddy, not you. Me." Hobbes felt his draw unhinge slightly as Calvin began to fiddle with the lock again to make sure it wouldn't pop open.

The edge on his voice, his irritation to Stacy the newsperson's stupid joke, the avoiding of the subject. It all made sense on half of the subject. But…the rest of it didn't.

"What do you mean? I have to be the werewolf, my fangs, the bloody taste in my mouth the morning of the murder, the blood on the sheets-" Calvin put up a hand to stop him. "Let me explain first." Hobbes shut his mouth and watched Calvin clear his throat.

"It all happened two months before, when we were out in the woods that one night trying to salvage the wagon from the river. Do you remember? It had gotten dark, ironically, on the full moon, and although nature was providing us light, it wasn't enough. 'I'll go grab us a flashlight' I said, and started up the path to the house while you were searching the river. Halfway up the path, the clouds parted and the moon's rays sliced overhead and minutes later I heard rustling in the woods. I began to walk faster, then jogging, then sprinting, and soon I was flat-out running for the house as the rustling began to grow louder and closer. Almost in sight of the house, something jumped from the bushes and knocked me down. The look of murder was in its eyes, I could see, and it ripped into my arm, bringing blood, and yet did not kill me. I do not know why. When I got back to you, I merely claimed I fell on a sharp rock. As a week later I was the only werewolf out a month later, I'm sure he only spared me to relieve himself of the curse

"A month later, I left the house at night, having transformed, and killed the girl." Hobbes frowned. "That doesn't explain the fangs or the blood. I don't believe you, Cal-" 

Calvin put up his hand again. "When I came back from killing the girl, I could not use the door, so I had to leap up twenty-feet and into the window. There is only a small window, literally, of space to jump into. I remember I leapt up, and, before painfully coming down, found you had shifted positions on the bed. I could not maneuver as I came down hard on your face. Luckily, you didn't wake up. Feel your fangs again. They feel as if their chipped, not elongate, right?" They did. "And that blood was your own, not Alicia Chambers'. The blood, however, on the sheet was Alicia's."

A light bulb somewhere in Hobbes clicked on. _It all fits. It was never me at all. _"Alright, Calvin," said Hobbes, nodding his head down "I'll lock you up…Calvin? Calvin?"

Hobbes looked up. Calvin was gone, as were the clouds.

* ** *

The moon began to shine down on Nicole, illuminating her young beauty. The kids had all left, were all inside, and Nicole was a little on edge. Was the murderer creeping up on her right now, perhaps licking his chops, deciding what he was going to nibble on first, her legs, the arms, or maybe even chew a little tongue for a while. Nicole shuddered and kept walking.

* ** *

__

I. Smell. Blood. was the thought as Calvin crept into the bushes, watching the young beauty before him.

* ** *

Hobbes sprinted down the road on all fours, tracking Calvin. Calvin's smell was in the air, that sweet sweaty odor that kids possessed, and yet it wasn't that smell. It seemed to change in midair as he followed it. From kid to…something else. Hobbes sprinted as hard as he could, and managed to find a little more energy to run faster.

* ** *

Did something just rustle in the bushes? Nicole shifted, but it was probably just a hallucination, but then again, do sane people hallucinate? No, there it was again. There was something in the bush…

* ** *

__

Closer, oh yes come closer my fine looking beauty, I want to chew on your leg, get a taste of your nice meat. Come closer, oh yes. Calvin's muscles tensed, and as Nicole came closer to inspect the bush, something inside him snapped. He felt his knees go off and found himself midair between his hiding place and the girl.

Nicole screamed as the thing in the bush exploded outwards. Nicole stumbled back and over onto her back. She could hear snarling and claws _tak_-ing on the concrete. _No, please, not into the light. I don't want to die, but I'd rather be killed without seeing the Thing, please Lord no_.

Calvin stepped into the light and Nicole tried to scream, but nothing came. Not a shriek of fear, not even an eep. 

* ** *

Hobbes bounded down the street, into the suburbs, were the strong smell was leading him. Toward the end of transformation, Calvin smelled something like a musty old house that was stained with the crimson fluids of its past residents. 

In the street, about a block ahead, lay a girl in the moonlight beams, on her back. Her eyes bulged outwards and she seemed to be shielding herself with her hands. She was a beauty, but alas she was only human. _What was scaring her_, but Hobbes already knew.

Into the moonbeams came out a hulking beast. Silver white fur that formed a shaggy coat over him, Calvin resembled a taller, muscular Hobbes. Claws the thickness of quarters and a rope of saliva that hung from the mouth made the transformation bound back down to Earth for Hobbes. The hair on the nape of his head stood up on end, and he found out it was indeed him who had committed the murders.

* ** *

__

Please God, kill, strike it down dead for me, quickly, it's going to kill me. The beast took a step forward. A thick rope of saliva slid off of its maw and splattered against the sidewalk, but this was the least of Nicole's worries. Instead, she concentrated on the rather large and exaggerated claws and teeth.

It seemed to be gurgling, trying to growl but only managed to gurgle instead. But as Nicole listened, it sounded almost human. "You are looking tasty tonight, my young friend." it almost said. Nicole shook her had and backed up.

The creature took another long and seemingly slow step toward Nicole, almost mocking her in the fact he could take as long as he wanted and still she would die.

__

Where the hell is everyone? This is a suburb_! _Nicole whimpered as the finally backed into the curb, and her worst fear was realized: she had nowhere to go. The beast-thing had sidled up next to her, and another long strand of saliva splattered next to her. 

__

Oh God, I need someone to save me now-

* ** *

Hobbes bound into the moonbeams and uttered-

* ** *

…a piercing roar. Nicole turned in time to see the yellow-ochre blur in the full light of the pregnant moon. The blur turned and-

* ** *

…slammed into Calvin. Hobbes brought his paw and brought it down across Calvin's face, not as forceful as he wanted to, but enough to knock him from the girl.

It wasn't that he wanted to hurt Calvin, he really wanted to help him, honest to God, but there was still a little bit of tiger buried deep inside of him. You can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger. 

But partially it was Calvin's fault, and although he was fighting Hobbes against his free will, he still attacked first, bringing his weighty paw across Hobbes' jaw, making sure something cracked, not only physically, but mentally too.

The Tiger was released. 

Nicole remembered only watching the blur (not quite sure what it was; it was very fast) jumping around the beast, hissing and snarling, and in a brief, slow minute second, Nicole was almost certain it was another Thing, and then something said tiger, and something said it would be alright. She watched it dance around and slash at the Thing and smack it to the ground, and suddenly, without almost no warning, three parallel slashes of crimson fluid appeared across the Thing's chest.

The final blow, the final batting of paw against paw, and Hobbes looked up into the eyes, and the werewolf had been drained from them. All that was left was the young innocence that only a six year old could posses. And all at once, at that same moment, the Jungle left the Tiger, and Hobbes saw Calvin in those eyes. He realized that he had to do this, had to kill him, `cuz that's the only way to kill a werewolf, and as he saw Calvin gleaming in those beady dots, he was unaware of the fact that his paw was in midswing toward the werewolf's frail neck.

* ** *

As soon as Calvin entered, he was gone. All that was left was the werewolf. _Tiger, pretty tiger, you will make a nice dessert after my…oh shi-_

* ** *

As claw met neck, all in the world of both werewolf and weretiger want dark.

* ** *

Nicole remembered nothing of the battle, and certainly remembered not fainting, but as she awoke she found herself surrounded by police and firefighters, forming a closer shroud around her. No, not around _her_, around the scene, where the 

(_werewolf, weretiger_)

Murderer had been. Imagine, Nicole Jones almost a victim of the Nightly Knife, a victim of the same murderer who had taken her friend Alicia a month ago. What a tale that will be when it circulates around the high school on Monday.

"Are you alright?" asked a young handsome police officer, maybe no more than twenty-two. Nicole looked up, realized she had just been sitting, thinking, for about five minutes having woken up, and broke her gaze. "Why, yes, thank you." The officer looked at her oddly. She had just been through a horrible ordeal, almost _died_, and she was "just alright." 

"Yes, I am fine. Someone told me it would be alright." The officer nodded. Delirium. He helped her up and guided her to an ambulance that seemed to have magically appeared in the last five minutes. She looked down to see the ground was covered in a sticky coat of blood, none of it her own.

She found a blanket and was soon wrapped up, and somebody from one of the houses had conjured her some hot chocolate, which she had thanked him for. The officer was securing the scene from the suburbians who only wanted a closer look. She nodded silently, and began her gaze again. Almost killed, by the Nightly Knife, by the Manibal, and she felt a-ok. She would be up and about tomorrow, not even remembering what happened most likely. 

Something in the back of her mind was clicking. It wasn't the Nightly Knife, though. Who had it been? Who had been wanting to kill her, who had _tak_-ed across the pavement, who had drooled like an animal and said in a gurgling, animal voice "You are looking tasty," and had gleamed off of the moonlight. And who had saved her again, and looked into the Thing's eyes with a look of contempt, then friendship, then a deep loathing, not at the Thing, but in himself. _Who had it been?_

Down on the ground, almost at her feet, was an animal. A stuffed animal, a tiger to be exact. How had that gotten there? It shouldn't be. It was just _out of place_. Stuffed tigers don't just appear at crime scenes. 

Nicole picked up the tiger and looked at its scratched bead eyes. Inside her, something clicked. "Did you save me? Were you friends with the murderer?" The eyes stared back at her with no human intelligence. Nicole nodded and hugged the stuffed animal, and a wave of nostalgia waved over her.

Before she put the tiger in her lap, she would swear she had seen a gleam in its eyes.


End file.
